


I'm Kinda Happy That You Showed Up

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Starting Over [5]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-03
Updated: 2012-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-30 13:49:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/332405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Woo-hoo, Hotch made a funny!”</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm Kinda Happy That You Showed Up

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the Lisa Loeb song, Truthfully, which is the first one I've discovered for this pairing.

“Tiebreaker,” Hotch said, sipping his beer.

“Prepare to be spanked.”

He looked at her, unable to stop his wide eyes or his dimpled grin.

“It’s only our fourth date. Are you sure you want to go there so soon?”

Beth laughed. She laughed as she stretched so she wouldn’t be too sore later tonight or in the morning.

“Note to self,” she replied smiling. “Don’t introduce spanking until the twelfth date.”

“Eighth.” Hotch said. “I'm a big boy…I can handle it.”

“How many of those High Lifes have you had?” Beth asked. “I think I need another.”

“I’ll get it for you.” Hotch brushed against her as he walked past and Beth tried to kiss him. He moved away too quickly. “I guess I have something else to come back for.”

“Yeah because this is definitely about more than my stellar bowling skills.”

Hotch just grinned as he walked over to the bar. Tonight was date #4 and he decided while planning that it was going to be all about fun. If he could help it there would be no awkward conversation, long pauses, or anything that made either of them uncomfortable. He thought they should do an activity, not a movie or something. Hotch wanted to talk with her, laugh with her. 

But he wanted to be in the moment Aaron. He didn’t want to talk about the past or contemplate the future. It was Sam who suggested bowling. That was something he loved to do before a lot of his injuries made it nearly impossible. He said it was even better when neither party was good at it. You could get competitive but still keep it fun. Beth seemed excited when Hotch said that’s what they were going to do.

“I can't bowl to save my life.” She told him when he picked her up.

“Good, then we’ll be starting out on the same page.” He replied. “I probably haven’t since I was in my 20s.”

Now they were going to play a tiebreaker best of three. Another beer, this would be his last, good music on the jukebox, and people having fun all around them…this was a great date. So he grabbed the two bottles and walked back over to their lane. Beth was preparing, _Big Lebowski_ style. Hotch slipped one arm around her waist from behind before handing her the beer.

“How about that kiss now?” he whispered in her ear.

“Mmm, OK.” She smiled, turning to kiss his lips. “I'm still gonna wipe the floor with you, Hotchner.”

“That remains to be seen.”

Grinning, feeling the smile all the way down to his ugly shoes, Hotch went back over to his seat. Beth took a healthy pull of her beer. She handed it to him, grabbed her bowling ball, and went to the line.

“OK, I need to center my universe and be the ball. Aim for the center arrow thingie and you can't go wrong.”

“The center arrow thingie.” Hotch laughed some. “That’s it.”

Beth looked back at him, stuck out her tongue, and then rolled. The ball went down the center of the lane; knocking down all ten pins.

“Oh my God,” she clapped and then jumped up and down. “Oh my God, did you see that? That was awesome!”

“It was pretty awesome.” 

“A kiss says you don’t get a strike.” Beth smiled.

“And now the competitive streak comes out.”

“C'mon, upping the ante can be fun.”

“OK, one kiss says I don’t get a strike.” Hotch grabbed his ball. “If I do you can rub my shoulders. They’re killing me.”

“You're on.” She walked back over to where they were sitting and got her beer.

Hotch stood at the line, looking down the lane. He stood there for a while doing nothing.

“What are you doing?” Beth asked.

“I'm centering my universe…I'm being the ball.”

“Woo-hoo, Hotch made a funny!”

He smiled, and then rolled the ball. It went down the lane at a good pace, knocking down eight pins. The ninth teetered, with Hotch moving his hands to the right as if wind from that far away would help any. It remained standing.

“I think is the one of the first times in my life losing a bet felt so good.” He said.

He started walking toward the ball return. Beth met him halfway. She leaned and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. Hotch stroked her cheek.

“Another kiss says I get the spare.”

“If you don’t I promise to rub your shoulders.” She replied.

***

“I just have one question for you.” Hotch said as he opened the passenger door of his truck in the Rock N Roll Bowl parking lot.

“What?” Beth asked, sliding into her seat. 

“Are you a ringer?” 

She laughed and Hotch grinned too before going over to the driver’s side. Beth reached to unlock his door and he liked that. There was something so sweet about it. Climbing in, Hotch put his key in the ignition.

“I think what happened tonight would be something my mom calls dumb luck.” She replied.

“Three strikes and two spares?” Hotch asked.

“I guess I was just warming up in the first two games.”

“I guess I'm never gonna get that shoulder rub.” Hotch said, pouting.

“Oh my God, you are so cute. You'll get your shoulder rub, and it’s gonna be awesome too.”

She leaned on the console, fully prepared to kiss his breathless. She was one who was breathless when Hotch gave her Eskimo kisses. Then Beth gasped.

“What?” he asked.

“I love this song. How funny that it’s playing right now.”

Hotch glanced over at his Sirius-XM radio. He didn’t even know why it was on the 90s station as he rarely listened to that music. But it was, and Lisa Loeb was playing. He was familiar with the artist, had heard her name before, but never her music. At least he didn’t think so…this song was all new to him.

_This isn’t what I like to call flattery_  
But I know that I believe  
That I found what's true  
That I found what's you  
And truthfully I, I'm finding finally  
Truthfully you, you help me find at last  
Truthfully we are finding out what's true  
And truthfully I, I'm finding out what's you 

“I love her.” Beth said. “I have all of her albums and used to rush to her shows whenever she was in town. I even saw her at the Lilith Fair many moons ago. This is my favorite song of hers.”

“This would be what my mother calls the stars aligning.” Hotch whispered before kissing her.

He still liked kissing her. He liked talking with her, hearing her laugh, but he really liked kissing her. It made him feel energized. The pull in his stomach and the heat pricklies on his skin were an extra bonus. It had been a long time since something felt so nice. There were times, after Haley left, when Hotch wasn’t even sure that place inside him existed anymore. He’d been a giddy teenage boy with Haley…Beth just made him feel like one.

“Date #4, more kisses. Check.” He said.

“Yay!”

After one more kiss, she moved back to her side and put on her seatbelt. Hotch did the same before driving out of the lot. The ride from Alexandria to Georgetown on any given night could be as short as 20 minutes or as long as 40. Tonight he didn’t really care. He was on Cloud nine. No stutter steps, awkward questions and answers; nothing like that. Hotch was prepared to say that Date #4 was perfect.

“Do you have plans for the Thanksgiving holiday?” Beth asked.

“I'm going to be with my sister and brother-in-law at their place in Fairfax. Jack is going to be there too. He’s already excited about turkey. And in school they told him about wishbones so he wants that too. He couldn’t believe there was something else to make a wish on that didn’t involve birthday cake.”

“He sounds like a boy after my own heart.” She laughed. “The more wishes the merrier I always say.”

“When’s your birthday?” Hotch asked.

“February 19th. I cheat sometimes and make wishes based on how many candles are on the cake. The trick is making them all before you blow them out. Not easy but doable. When’s your birthday?”

“November 2nd.”

“We missed it.” she said.

“Well I didn’t miss it but yes, we missed it.”

“Can I ask how old you are?”

“You can ask.” Hotch replied.

“You like keeping things close to the chest don’t you Hotch?”

“Just call me Hotch, international man of intrigue and mystery.”

“That only works with the black suit.” Beth said. “I guess I’ll just have to guess. Damn, I don’t even have a calculator.”

“What would you need that for?” he asked.

“Nothing…it just always looks better when you have a calculator. I'm gonna say 45.” Beth held up her hands. “Don’t tell me if I'm right though. I want it to be a surprise later on when I somehow get my hands on your driver’s license.”

He looked at her and she was smiling. OK, as long as she was smiling then it was good. He didn’t even think to mention his birthday to her. But there was always next year, if they were even dating then. Hotch pumped the brakes on that line of thought. 

He had a good time tonight and the most important part was to run that on constant loop and enjoy it. Well, enjoy that and Beth’s singing. While he wasn’t up on his 90s pop music it seemed as if she was. And now she was singing. She didn’t have the world’s best voice but it didn’t matter. He liked what he was hearing anyway.

_It felt like springtime on this February morning_  
In a courtyard birds were singing your praise  
I'm still recalling things you said to make me feel alright  
I carry them with me today  
Now as I lay me down to sleep  
This I pray, that you will hold me dear  
Though I'm far away, I’ll whisper your name  
Into the sky, and I will wake up happy 

“This song takes me back to _Dawson’s Creek_ …oh my God, I can't believe I just said that.”

“I know that show, sort of.” Hotch replied. “Pacey’s on there, right?”

“Yeah.” Beth looked at him smiling. “Just when I think I know what's going on, you turn a corner on me.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “It is. So how did you get into _Dawson’s Creek_?”

“You asked me if I had a female friend when I bought you the dahlias. I do, she's on my team, and she likes the show. It’s one of her guilty pleasures. She introduced me to it in an effort to help me let go of some stress.”

“Did it work?”

“You tell me.”

“Oh no,” Beth laughed. “That’s one of those questions that you can't answer right now matter what.”

“Well I like hearing you sing.” Hotch said. 

He was so glad she didn’t ask too many questions about his friend. Usually women wanted to know about other women in a man’s life. At least he thought they did. And Hotch wasn’t really sure how to define his relationship with Prentiss. Once it was overly formal, for a long time and a lot of reasons. Since her return from the dead it seemed as if neither one of them wanted that anymore and almost weren't afraid to say so.

“I'm sure another song will come on before we get home that I’ll want to belt out. I'm no Celine Dion but singing songs on the radio is something I do for the same reason you watched _Dawson’s Creek_. I let it all out, and I feel better when the song is over. Do you ever do that?”

“Every once in a while.” He replied.

“You should try it more often.”

“I don’t know any of the songs on this station. I usually listen to oldies stations or the 70s singer-songwriters station.”

“Lets find that station; I bet there's something on there worth singing all the time.”

Hotch smiled, hitting 3 and hearing James Taylor. He wasn’t going to sing but it would be nice to hear her singing something familiar and comfortable to him.

***

“Would you like to come up? I can make some tea?”

It was drizzling as Hotch pulled up in front of Beth’s apartment. He put his blinkers on, smiling at her.

“I would love to but it’s going to be hell trying to find a parking space in this neighborhood. I should probably get home and relieve the babysitter anyway. Next time?”

“Definitely.” She nodded. “If you're in town Sunday we should ride.”

“You're on. Tonight was really great. I don’t remember the last time being spanked was such fun.”

“You must not have been doing it right, Aaron. Just stick with me.”

He laughed and it felt good. Then he caressed her face and kissed her.

“I’ll text when I get home.”

“I look forward to it. You’re an awesome guy, you know that.”

“Thanks. I have a really good time with you. I work a stressful job, I'm a single dad, and I thought it was a good idea to train for a triathlon. I never thought in the middle of all of that I would find this.”

“Its like finding a twenty dollar bill on the street,” Beth said. “You don’t ask too many questions, you just consider yourself lucky and enjoy the moment.”

“Where do you come up with your analogies?” he asked.

“I wish I could take all the credit but I can't. Blame my dad…he had a million of them.” she kissed him again. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

She got out of the car and Hotch watched her walk up the steps and into the building. He sat for a while and looked up. When he saw the living room lamp come on Hotch drove away. Even though he sighed, he felt content. He still wasn’t sure what this was or what it would become but tonight was great. 

Taking it one date at a time was the best way to go. There were more challenges to come later but tonight was about having fun. He was able to let go and just do that. Hotch couldn’t help but smile as he started singing _Your Song_. It had been forever since he sang a song on the radio. He felt this one was more than appropriate for how he was feeling.

***


End file.
